Dinish Island Sunrise

Just as you think your never going to get that image….

On this trip to Kenmare the weather was mixed. Not great for photography as we had too much haze mixed with low clouds all during the day and not much better in the mornings for sunrise either. On the last day of the trip all the elements came together and I got the sunrise I was after.  This image shows Dinish Island, which is in the middle of Kenmare Bay, lit by the early morning rising sun.  I used this wonderful side lighting to bring out the texture of the stone slipway and used the slipway to lead you into the image.

Three days of sitting and waiting for the light was worth it me thinks.

Coornagillagh, Kenmare Bay

I came across this location on the evening before but the clouds had rolled in and that was the end of the sunset. However the next day I came back this time a little earlier to see what it was like and go for a little walk around. The tide was low which made for so interesting foreground rocks to help in the composition.  In the image above you are looking straight out along the Kenmare Bay with Iveragh Peninsula on your right and the The Beara Peninsula on the left. You can’t really them with this portrait format but I think it helps the composition with the  way the rocks in the foreground led you into the image.

There is only one problem with this image- no sound. You can’t see them but you could here the Seals making some wonderful sounds. It added to the atmosphere  and will be added to the list of locations for the next episode of the Circle of Confusion Video series. Can’t wait to hear the sound on the video in the background while we try any part with some advice.

Lackeen, Kenmare Bay

I usually use Killarney as my base and travel from there when I’m down Co Kerry way, but not this time. Kenmare, Co Kerry was to be my base for this Co Kerry trip.

I now think after this trip that Kenmare is the best location as you can travel north to the Iveragh Peninsula or south towards the Beara Peninsula. Also the drive from Kenmare to KIllarney ( N71) is much better in this direction. We have had some of the best weather of late and I was hoping that it would continue for my trip. It was good and bad. Too much haze. Clear blue skies and strong haze might be good holiday weather for the beach etc… but not us landscape photographers.

The image above was taken one morning after a short drive out on the Iveragh Peninsula along “The Ring of Kerry” road to a place called Lackeen. I found this small Quay and stopped. The clouds were starting to break up so I decided to stay here and wait a while. In the image I am looking sound across Kenmare Bay towards the Caha Mountains on the the Beara Peninsula. I like the peaceful scene. The different shapes and tones of the trees and the cloud patterns. I bit of a difference between this image and the dark moody one from the previous post ( Castletownbere )

So the first image in the bag from this trip. Hotel was great. Food was great. Kenmare has jumped to the top of my list of landscape locations. I have only just scratched the surface of wonderful locations to photograph, so will be back again and agin me thinks.

More to follow from this trip including : Coornagillagh Quay, Cloonee Lough, Darrynane Bay, Glanbeg to name just a few.

Castletownbere

The one that nearly got away.

After we finished filming the morning sequence for the The video we made our way back to Castletownbere for some breakfast. A hard thing to find - a coffee shop open on a Sunday morning at 8:00. So we waited and did a bit more filming down at the harbour.  We also started doing the backup of the compact flash cards onto the laptops in the back of the jeep. The clouds were starting to break up at this stage which would lead to a very productive late morning and afternoon shooting. While the backup were being copied I noticed some wonderful light starting to appear over the harbour in front of us. A quick camera setup and a couple of images taken before the clouds and light changed and the show was over.

I love the mood in the image. The ripples on the calm water in the harbour and the single boat just on the edge of the light. Ok I did darken down the clouds and foreground a bit but this adds to the mood of the image. After a poor start to the day, getting up at 4:00, driving for 1.5 hours to capture the Super Moon set only to be greeted with the same clouds in the image above. This time the low lying clouds make the image.

Bad weather is good weather. It all depends on your mood.

Lehanbeg Pier.

Here is one of the first images taken form the Friday's evening shooting location, Lehanbeg Pier, Beara, Co Cork. The bad weather I was talking about in the previous post was clearing eastwards. We didn't get the full intensity of the setting sun due mainly to the low cover mist and fog which was to our benefit as we are shooting directly into the setting sun just out of the photo to the right. Long shutter speeds and a couple of ND Grad filters made for interesting effects on the water as it crashed over the sides of the pier walkway. The composition is helped by the mirroring angles of the foreground rocks and the pier itself. We came back to this location a couple of hours later and the water level had dropped by about 3 meters so it was safe to walk all the way out the the end of the pier.

Bundoran Sunset

What a sunset. Pure magic.

Light, texture, shapes and tones by the bucket load.

This image was taken last year from the trip to Bundoran, Co Donegal. The amazing thing about this image was that I had the place to myself. Nobody around to get in my way. A ware occurrence for a landscape photographer. Did I have to travel far? No, out the hotel door turn right and down the steps.

I typical sort of Irish day with all the seasons during the day and come the magic hour the clouds lifted the the sun came out to play. It makes up for all the waiting around during the day. The last time I was up here I had perfect weather all day and it was going to be a wonderful sunset. But........

You see the dark rocks on the right? There is a diving board on the rocks and it's in constant use. On that evening the people got stranded on the rocks as the tide came in and the Air-Sea rescue helicopter and fire brigade were called out. No sunset image that time but on this evening I got the image I was after, OK a year late but very happy all the same.

A couple of ND Grad filter were used to balance the image. Using the Lee filter system you can angle the grads to suit the image which I had to on this image.

If you do a search with the word Bundoran on your left you will find a few more images.

Two weeks and counting to the West Cork/Kerry Trip.

Enjoy the week.

Sunrise on the coast

As I was saying over in Twitter land ( follow here ), I went back through my image folders from last year with a new set of eyes ( mentally not physically ). You should do this at's amazing what you will find. Me, well I found five extra images that went thru the "mononeil" process. The image above being one of them. Take very early one morning along the Wicklow/Wexford coast. The sun had not risen yet and you can see the light rays fanning out from the clouds on the horizon.

I didn't think it would work as a black & white but you know it does. I like the way the rocks are very dark with just a hint of light here and there. The shape of the flat rock surface and the highlights makes your eyes flow into the image. In contrast to the sky and the light rays this foreground was very dark and to balance it out a bit 3 ND filters had to be used.

The project for the year has being selected and is in full swing. More on this later.

The first major trip of the year has will happen in February down around west Cork - Kerry.

Donabate Walk

Well now, it's being a long time since my last blogpost. A couple of reasons really but mainly working on other parts of the business and not enough time out in the field taking new images.

Another reason is lack of inspiration or rather too much inspiration.

"Even the most enthusiastic of photographers get the blues. And there's nothing more depressing than jealousy and a lack of motivation caused by overexposure to the work of others."

Well my friends that's me at the moment. But, there is hope. I have discovered a great cure for this particular form of photographic depression. Grab your camera and get out of the house and spend more time developing your style and vision rather than indulging in everyone else's.

So I did just that last week and went back to where I lived a few years ago. Donabate is a small village on the East coast of Ireland. Jump over to the website here to have a look at more images from Donabate.

It was great to get out on my own with the cameras and just walk around to try a get a composition that works. The image above shows the cliff path form Donabate to Portrane. It had being a clear blue sky all morning and then the clouds started to roll in which is more to my style. While waiting for the right light and composition you have plenty of time to think. And a lot of thinking was done this morning on the cliff path of Donabate.

I'm Back

Full of my own style, vision and Inspiraton.

Reenbeg Point Dingle

We are coming to the end of my Dingle Trip images.

The image above shows Reenbeg Point, the mouth to Dingle Bay and Harbor. This is also the home of Fungie the Dolphin (Link here). This was taken form a cliff face on the other side of the bay. It was the every last images taken on this trip before I packed by bags and headed home.

Even though the first day and a half was a wash out the the rain, on the whole the Dingle Trip was great. The new camera system was put through it's paces and came out with flying colours.

You have The Mourne Mountains and Westport Trips to look forward in the coming weeks.

Have a good weekend and see you all again next week.

More Skys can be found here on SkyWatch Friday

Dunquin Pier

This is Dunquin Pier, Dunquin, on the Dingle Peninsula Co Kerry. You can get the Ferry over to the Blasket Islands visible in the background from here. The path down is unbelievably steep and I don't know how people walk up and down this winding path. Mind you it makes for a great foreground interest in a photograph. I have seen a few images of this Pier shoot closer and tight to the frame but I decided to take a wider view and capture the Blasket Island in the background to give the image a little extra bit of interest. Does it work ?

I would say yes as that's what a had in mind when I got to the location after I ran back to the car during a quick 10mins rain shower. It was very windy and I was standing right on the cliff edge which made me a bit uneasy as I don't like heights or rather looking down over cliff edges. So I was holding onto the tripod so that it wouldn't blow away and for my life.

I will continue My Dingle Trip next week after I get back from England that's if the airlines are able to fly again due to the Iceland Volcano that is causing chaos over here in Europe. I have to shoot the London Marathon on Sunday fly home and then back to England a day later to Canon for training on new equipment.

So see you all this time next week and have a good and safe weekend.

More Skies here at SkyWatch Friday.

Coumeenoole Bay 2

We continue on My Dingle Trip series with another image form Coumeenoole Bay.
In this image the headland is now lit up by the rising sun over Eagle Mountain behind me. This is the head land behind the cottage on the right in the last post. Taken about 45 mins later you can see the sun has risen high enough to lit up the foreground and cast some interesting shadows with the rocks. Again the Blasket Island can be seen on the horizon.
I was finished shooting down on the Coumeenoole Beach and was walking back up the path towards where I parked the car when I looked over the wall to see this viewpoint. A quick hop over the wall and set up the camera. I liked the portrait version better as there was nothing of interest in the open water to the left. The version has better composition and impact with the shape of the rocks leading you into the image.
This was the last image taken that morning as I headed back to the hotel for a well earned shower and full Irish Breakfast.

Chapter 3 to follow next week.

For More SkyWatch Images Link Here

Coumeenoole Bay

Easter Holidays are now over and mind & body refreshed yes ?

It's being a while since my last post, looking at the date on the last post 21st March. I was away down to Co Kerry for a few days last week with a couple of new toys to play with and test.

Got a new car. Well when I mean new, I mean new to me as it's 8 years old. Funny thing is I payed twice the price of the car for the new camera and lens combination. Typical photographer right ?

We ( the family ) headed down to Dingle, Co Kerry for a break and I used this to put the 5Dmk2 and 24mm TS-E mk2 through some field tests. The results are only wonderful. Now I will have to upgrade my Mac computer to handle the very large files. I think my bank manager is going to cry if he sees me again.

When we go down this direction, we normally stay in Killarney and go to Dingle on a day trip. This time we used Dingle as our base for the holiday. A few days before we left I planned out locations to goto and shoot using maps and Google Earth. However this being Ireland plans changed. Explain later.

The Dingle Peninsula is one of Ireland gems for photographers and the road around Slea Head to Dunquin and onto Ballyferriter is just wonderful. The image above show Coumeenoole Bay and Great Blasket Island in the background. No joke, this is the view form the side of the road as you drive around Slea Head. Just imagine what it must have being like to live in that cottage and open your front or back door to that view ?

Now getting back to the plan. It rained for 18hours non-stop. All I could do was look out the hotel room window and hope that tomorrow would be better. So one and a half days lost. Mind you the children didn't mind as they came home with lots of goodies from the Kids Club in the Hotel. It was definitely worth the wait as the weather the next day was spot-on.

So, stayed tuned for chapter 2 in My Dingle Trip.

Black Castle Wicklow

We are now at the end of our Wicklow & Wexford Coastal journey with a photo of Black Castle which stands on a rocky promontory over the sea. We spent a god while here trying to find the best viewpoint and light.

This image above shows whats left of the castle to its best compared to the Google search images found on the Internet in my opinion. It's taken further down the coast than normal along a cliff path. However the foreground interest leads your eye nicely into the image and to the final resting place of the castle itself. We had to wait for some people to move out of the shoot and for the sun to reappear from behind the clouds. This angle of morning light is used to light up the face of the cliff and castle which is again the reason for this viewpoint.

You can possibly get a better image of the castle walls in detail from the other side but would be shooting into the sun and the castle would be in complete shadow. A return visit at a different time in the year is on the cards.

Wicklow Coast Continued....

We continue on our Wicklow & Wexford Coastal tour with the image about. After our wonderful breakfast mentioned in the pervious post and collected the now fully charged batteries form the house we headed south passed Brittas Bay. We found a lovely small bridge and river. Following the river through a field we came out onto the sea front in the image above.

Wonderful line and clouds are the composition in this image. I still had my wellies and over trousers on and kept them on for the whole day. It might not look the prettiest but it gets the job done and I am warm and dry.

I will post the images of the bridge and surroundings during the coming weeks as they are interesting in that : what you can find and photograph when out and about looking and exploring.

Have a good weekend and remember to bring your camera out with you.

For more SkyWatch Friday images Link Here

Brittas Bay Sunrise

We have done a u-turn here and gone south down the Wicklow coast to Brittas Bay for an early morning sunrise. It didn't look like it was going to be any good. We had a big empty beach to play with and some small sand dunes. Instead of pointing the camera into the sunrise to the east I decided that turning and looking north along the beach and use the rising sun to side-light the foreground interest. We started to get some lovely cloud formations which added interest to the sky.

I don't know what happened but my batteries started to loose power very quickly and had to take a couple of images then remove the battery and place it inside my clothing. Just leave it a that and say nothing more on the subject as to the position of the battery. I had a spare backup battery in the car to continue on shooting that day. I presume it was the cold that was effecting the performance of the batteries.

We decided to head back to the house used as our base ( thanks Gavin's Mum & Dad ) and get a complete charge to my dying batteries. Also a good time to get breakfast. A hot coffee and a Full Irish Breakfast Roll down by the harbor. This will bring us nicely onto the final images to be posted during the coming days.

The Monochrome Weekend and many more can be found here .

Kilmichael Strand

We continue on our journey up the Wicklow Coast with an image from the sand dunes behind the beach of Kilmichael Strand. We had a wonderful afternoon sun to play with casting shadows and a warm quality to the light. Using this light to great use in the long grasses in the foreground and lighting up the countryside in the background.

While waiting for the right light, camera setup, check your twitter feed on you phone. How wonderful technology is today that you can be standing in the middle of a beach and still be connected to the world. Alone but not alone, well besides from Gavin standing right next to me that is.

Just after we had taken these images a man on a horse appeared and went straight into the water and that was that. No more reflections in the water. I did manage to get a couple of images of this but I think it does not work as the rider and horse takes away your interest in the light and shadow detail which for me is the image.

I think I have a few more image to show you before we get to the end of our journey in the series on the Wicklow Coast. So come back again and continue your journey with me.

Wicklow Coast

Here is your SkyWatch Friday image.

Don't even go there. What can I say I'm hooked on the portrait landscape.

You might have noticed that I changed the name of the last post because I got the name of the location wrong. So I am calling this one Wicklow Coast until I ask my Sherpa Guide ( Gavin help ? ) whats the location for the above image.

The light was very harsh so I waited for the sun to go behind the clouds before I was happy with the light levels and composition. Again we waited for people to disappear from off the sand dunes. You can't see it but I found a football in the long grass just in front of me. So if anybody lost a football it's there.

So this is the second image from the Wicklow trip and we are moving up the coast from the last post and I will continue on the journey up the coast for the next post.

Have a good weekend and see you all next week.

Clones Strand

Well now, I have being mad busy the past couple of weeks. During this time I did manage to get away for a few days shooting down on the Wicklow/Wexford east coast with a friend of mine Gavin Lyons. Gavin, who is Irish now lives in Austria came home and we meat up last Saturday at some crazy early hour in the day/night.

We spent the next couple of days going up and down the coast stopping off every now and then take a photo or two. The image above was taken on the Saturday down on the rocks over looking Castletown Beach. We climbed down the rocks to get our composition right. I'm not going to mention names or anything like that but someones lens ( not me ) decided to make it's own way down the rocks and land safely on the edge undamaged luck would have it.

We waited for the right conditions. The clouds were starting to arrive after a completely blue sky that morning for sunrise. We also had to wait for the right moment were there was no people on the beach and the waves crashed up onto the rocks to add a bit of drama to the image.

I think I got enough images to keep me going for a good few weeks and you will be the first to see them here on my blog as soon as I process and post them. You can look forward to images from Ballymoney, Castletown, Kilmichael Point, Clogga, Brittas Bay, Ardmore Point, Wicklow Head, Lighthouse and Castle.

Giant's Causeway

Well look at this, another portrait orientation landscape.

And yes I did go to the doctor for help. He said stop turning your head sideways.

The Giant's Causeway, Co Antrim, a World Heritage Site is one hell of an interesting place to visit and photograph. For one reason, to get a image with no people in it. A very tricky thing to do. However if you are a "real" photographer you go at some crazy time in the day. The above image was taken at around 5 in the morning me thinks on my trip to the Antrim Coast last November. At this time of the day you can drive your car down if you know your way through the car park maze.

The weather was overcast which made for a not so interesting colour sunrise ( I was with my good friend Peter Cox )but I think this image works very well in good old black and white. The shape and texture in the rock formations and the smooth water with the reflections of the clouds is interesting.

I promise this will be my last one. Well not really. Have a look at the Antrim Gallery on my site and you will see a few more images.

Have a good weekend and talk soon.

Skerries Lighthouse

Please don't adjust your monitors.

The worm have turned.

Yes you are not seeing things.

A portrait Landscape.

If you have being following my blog for a while you will have noticed that I have never posted a portrait style landscape image. The reason for this is well I don't see in portrait. I visualize the final image in me head as a b&w landscape. I know I have missed a good number of images by not taking portrait style but I just can't see them.

The image above of Skerries and the Lighthouse was taken from the same location as the previous post with the G10 on a tripod. However in the Landscape version I have you can see the car park and the children's playground. This did not help in the composition as I wanted the large rock in the foreground to lead you into the image and to the Lighthouse on the horizon. I could not position myself and the elements to suite.

I had to turn the camera & ball head ( even looked up tripod manual to find out how to do this ! ). By doing so the elements and the composition work. Even a bird moved into position in the sky for me. Will it be my last composition this way? Who knows, but I will visit the doctors and see if there are drugs to help me overcome this problem.

Have a good weekend and see you here again next week.

The Monochrome Weekend starts here